X. GALLUS.

EXTREMUM hunc, Arethusa, mihi concede laborem. Pauca meo Gallo, sed quæ legat ipsa Lycoris, Carmina sunt dicenda: neget quis carmina Gallo? Sic tibi, quùm fluctus subterlabêre Sicanos, Doris amara suam non intermisceat undam. Incipe; sollicitos Galli dicamus amores, Dum tenera adtondent simæ virgulta capellæ. Non canimus surdis: respondent omnia sylvæ.

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Quæ nemora, aut qui vos saltus habuêre, puellæ
Naïdes, indigno quùm Gallus amore periret?
Nam neque Parnasi vobis juga, nam neque Pindi
Ulla moram fecêre, neque Aonie Aganippe.

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Illum etiam lauri, etiam flevêre myricæ ;

Pinifer illum etiam solâ sub rupe jacentem

Mænalus, et gelidi fleverunt saxa Lycæi.

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Stant et oves circum; nostri nec pœnitet illas

Nec te poeniteat pecoris, divine poëta ;

Et formosus oves ad flumina pavit Adonis.

Venit et upilio; tardi venêre bubulci;

Uvidus hibernâ venit de glande Menalcas.

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Omnes, "Unde amor iste," rogant, "tibi?" Venit Apollo;
"Galle, quid insanis ?" inquit: "tua cura Lycoris
Perque nives alium, perque horrida castra, secuta est.”
Venit et agresti capitis Sylvanus honore,
Florentes ferulas et grandia lilia quassans.

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X. GALLUS.

THIS closing effort, Arethusa, aid;
A few brief strains be to my Gallus paid:
What bard to Gallus can a lay refuse?
And may Lycoris' eye that mournful lay peruse.
So, as thou glidest beneath Sicilia's brine,
Her wave no bitter sea-nymph blend with thine!
Begin: record we Gallus, love's sad prey;
Our goats, meanwhile, will browse the tender spray.
Nor sing we to the deaf: the woods reply,
And bear the strains of sadness to the sky.

Nymphs, o'er what lawns, what forests did ye rove, When Gallus faded in disastrous love?

For then nor Pindus nor th' Aonian mount
Detain'd your steps, nor Aganippe's fount.
For him the bay, for him the tamarisk pined;
For him, beneath their craggy feet reclined,
Even Mænalus the dews of sorrow shed,
And cold Lycæus on his craggy bed.

The sheep stand round, nor slight their master's pain;
Nor thou, bright bard, the humble flock disdain:

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In beauty's prime beside the lucid flood,

Well-pleased, Adonis fed his fleecy brood.

The shepherd came; and, with the herdsmen last,
Menalcas dripping from the snow-soak'd mast.
All seek thy passion's source. Apollo came;
And, "Whence this phrensy, Gallus? She, thy flame
"Lycoris," he exclaim'd, "another swain
"Follows through barbarous camps and winter's drear
With woodland wreath came old Sylvanus crown'd,
Fennel and largest lilies nodding round.

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[domain."

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Pan, deus Arcadia, venit; quem vidimus ipsi

Sanguineis ebuli baccis minioque rubentem.

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Ecquis erit modus?" inquit: "Amor non talia curat. Nec lacrimis crudelis Amor, nec gramina rivis, Nec cytiso saturantur apes, nec fronde capellæ." Tristis at ille: "Tamen cantabitis, Arcades," inquit, "Montibus hæc vestris; soli cantare periti Arcades. O mihi tum quàm molliter ossa quiescant, Vestra meos olim si fistula dicat amores!

Atque utinam ex vobis unus, vestrique fuissem

Aut custos gregis, aut maturæ vinitor uvæ!
Certe, sive mihi Phyllis, sive esset Amyntas,

Seu quicumque furor (quid tum, si fuscus Amyntas?
Et nigræ violæ sunt, et vaccinia nigra)
Mecum inter salices lentâ sub vite jaceret;
Serta mihi Phyllis legeret, cantaret Amyntas.
Hic gelidi fontes; hic mollia prata, Lycori;
Hic nemus; hìc ipso tecum consumerer ævo.
Nunc insanus amor duri te Martis in armis
Tela inter media atque adversos detinet hostes.
Tu procul à patriâ (nec sit mihi credere tantum !)
Alpinas, ah dura, nives et frigora Rheni

Me sine sola vides. Ah te ne frigora lædant!
Ah tibi ne teneras glacies secet aspera plantas!
Ibo et, Chalcidico quæ sunt mihi condita versu
Carmina, pastoris Siculi modulabor avenâ.
Certum est in sylvis, inter spelæa ferarum
Malle pati, tenerisque meos incidere amores
Arboribus: crescent illæ; crescetis, amores.

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Pan, too, we saw: th' Arcadian God appear'd
With vermil dye and elder-berries smear'd;
"And yet this grief?" he asks. "In vain it flows:
"No glut of tears insatiate Cupid knows.

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} 40

"Sooner shall herbage moisture cease to love,
"The bee his trefoil, goats the budding grove."
-"But you, Arcadians, deign (sad Gallus cried)
"To sing my sorrows on each mountain's side:
"You, only, of the poet's art possest;
"And softly, sweetly, will my relics rest,
"If by your simple reeds my suffering be exprest.
"Ah had I, one of you, your flocks or fed,
"Or pluck'd the grape with luscious ripeness red!
"Then, whomsoe'er had woo'd my amorous strain—
"Or Phyllis, or Amyntas-we had lain

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"In willowy bower o'erhung with flaunting vine;

"And he would sing, or she the chaplet twine.
"Nor had I cared, that dusky he to view :
"Dusky the hyacinth's, the violet's hue.
"Here cooling springs, Lycoris, meadows gay
"With flowers, and winding glades invite to stray;
"Here could I, blest with thee, wile life's fleet hours

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away.

"Thee reckless love in iron fields detains,

"Where all the fury of the battle reigns:
"Thou tread'st—and is it true? perfidious fair,
"No Gallus at thy side to shield or share,

}

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"Dauntless tread'st Alpine snows, and ice-bound Rhine! "Ah! may no ice wound those soft feet of thine; "No arrowy sleet that tender person pierce! "For me, adapting my Chalcidian verse "To pastoral pipe, I'll sylvan strains rehearse. "Yes, 'tis resolved: 'mid wildest lairs I'll go, "And there in solitude endure my woe; "Carve on the tender rind my tale of love, "And mark it growing with the growing grove.

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Interea mixtis lustrabo Manala Nymphis;

Aut acres venabor apros; non me ulla vetabunt
Frigora Parthenios canibus circumdare saltus.
Jam mihi per rupes videor, lucosque sonantes,
Ire; libet Partho torquere Cydonia cornu

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Spicula; tamquam hæc sint nostri medicina furoris, 60 Aut deus ille malis hominum mitescere discat!

Jam neque Hamadryades rursùm, nec carmina nobis Ipsa placent; ipsæ, rursùm concedite, sylvæ. Non illum nostri possunt mutare labores; Nec, si frigoribus mediis Hebrumque bibamus, Sithoniasque nives hiemis subeamus aquosæ ; Nec si, quùm moriens altâ liber aret in ulmo, Æthiopum versemus oves sub sidere Cancri. Omnia vincit Amor; et nos cedamus Amori."

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Hæc sat erit, Divæ, vestrum cecinisse poëtam,
Dum sedet, et gracili fiscellam texit hibisco,
Pierides. Vos hæc facietis maxima Gallo;
Gallo, cujus amor tantùm mihi crescit in horas,
Quantùm vere novo viridis se subjicit alnus.

Surgamus: solet esse gravis cantantibus umbra,
Juniperi gravis umbra; nocent et frugibus umbræ.
Ite domum saturæ, venit Hesperus, ite, capellæ.

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